Return to Utah State's Spectrum a special experience for Larry Eustachy and CSU basketball team

Jan. 14, 2014

Larry Eustachy coached Utah State from 1994-98, but hasn't returned to play at the Smith Spectrum since. That will change Wednesday when CSU plays the Aggies in Logan, Utah. / Erin Hooley/The Coloradoan

Larry Eustachy has been coaching college basketball for 23 years, makings stops at five schools along the way. Only twice has he returned to play at an arena he once called home.

Make that three times come Wednesday night.

Eustachy, in his second season at CSU, spent 1993-98 as Utah State’s coach, leading the Aggies to a 98-53 record and three Big West championships, but in the 15 seasons since, he’s never returned to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The Rams’ 7 p.m. game Wednesday in Logan, Utah, will end that streak.

Scheduling schools he’d previously coached has always been something Eustachy has had mixed feelings on. If it happens as part of conference play, so be it, but he doesn’t want to go out of his way to match up against a former team, especially on the road.

The two times he did return to a former program were in 1997 and ‘98, winning at Idaho after the Vandals had joined the Big West. It never happened at Iowa State or Southern Mississippi, but with Utah State being added to the Mountain West, there’s no way to avoid playing at the Spectrum—known for being one of the loudest venues in college basketball.

“Personally, I don’t want to go back to Hilton Coliseum and get my butt kicked. The places I’ve been have some great home-court advantages,” Eustachy said. “But until we talked about this, I haven’t given it one thought about going back (to Utah State) and playing — I really haven’t. The people were really good to me there, I thought we did good things to build a foundation there and Stew (Morrill) has built on that.

“The fans there will be good to us. They’re not your Philadelphia fans, they understand basketball. Utah is a basketball state.”

The Spectrum is a notoriously difficult place to play, thanks to half of its 10,000 seats being occupied by Utah State students—a group that originated the “I believe” chant now used by colleges around the country, including San Diego State.

But that wasn’t always the case. Eustachy and Leonard Perry—Colorado State University’s associate head coach—said when they were trying to build the Aggies’ program in the mid 90s, they’d be lucky to get 1,000 fans in the seats. By the time they left, the Spectrum was packed every night, and an opportunity to return and look at what they started has brings its own excitement on a personal level.

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“There’s a lot of nostalgia here. Utah State was my first paid coaching job, other than maybe getting my lunch paid for when I was a student assistant at Idaho,” said Perry, who spent ‘95-’98 with the Aggies. “Larry got that place turned around. We went from maybe 2,000 people in the stands to selling it out.

“I’ve been in a lot of arenas — kicked a lot of hornets nests — and that is one of the toughest when it gets loud. The decibel level is unlike any place I’ve been.

It may sound like an intimidating locale, but CSU players don’t see it as anything different than what they’ve faced the past two years. The Rams (11-6, 2-2 MW) have dealt with Mountain West venues like The Pit in New Mexico and SDSU’s Viejas Arena and played their first road game of this season at Gonzaga.

CSU holds respect for Utah State and the program Morrill—who coached the Rams from ‘91-’98—runs, but there’s no fear. Maybe the Spectrum is louder than most places, but the Rams doubt it’s anything they’ll notice.

“For me, once the game starts, I don’t really hear the crowd. I hear the crowd more at home, where I can feed off it. Otherwise, I drown it out,” CSU guard Jon Octeus said. “I don’t think it’s going to bother us like it did at the beginning of the season against Gonzaga, but it’s definitely going to be a fun environment for us to go into and try to get a W.”